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This is the Revell boxing of the Heller kit CL-415, which was first produced by Heller as the CL-215 in 1980, and in 1998 had new parts added for the turbo prop engines and wing extensions. The model is depicted in Spanish Airforce markings of the 43 Group which has its headquarters at the airbase at Torrejón de Ardoz in Madrid and deployed to 7 detachments in Spain which include Santiago de Compostela, Talavera la Real, Salamanca, Zaragoza, Albacete, Malaga and Pollensa (Majorca). These aircraft are not restricted to the national territory of Spain but can be called upon to participate in fighting fires in other countries, such as Portugal, France, Italy, Greece etc, The pilots of these aircraft do a incredible and hard job, especially in harsh environments where there are mountains to overcome and maneuverability can be difficult especially trying to contain a fire in such a tight area. I actually used to see these a lot when I lived in Majorca for a short time in Santa Ponsa, flying over head and always liked the look of the aircraft. For such a old kit it is actually a really nice model to put together and I had no real issues with fit, just a bit of good old fashioned modelling with some filler and sanding, the whole model was sanded back to remove the over scale rivets and re-rivetted using a rivet wheel. Paints used are Tamiya XF-3 yellow and Tamiya XF-7 red, and Vallejo Silver, bare metal adhesive chrome for the exhaust pipes, the model was then glossed using Johnsons Klear painted on then a spray of Alclad gloss to seal every thing in, Flory wash and pastels was used to bring out the panel detail and weathering, I used photo etch parts from NH Detail, to add some extra detail to the model, the kit was missing the large hinge on either side near the engines, so these were 3D printed, the metal undercarriage was from Scale Aircraft Conversions as the original undercarriage would have been too flimsy, the decals came from Series Españolas from Spain.

After finishing the Embraer 170 I was all set to crack on with the Xingu. Then the doorbell rang. And now I can't resist building this next: It's the newly released AMP 1/144 Dash 8 Q400 water bomber. Mostly the same plastic as the Eastern Express Q400 kit, which I built a year or two ago in another GB, with new parts for the belly tank and a nice looking decal sheet with multiple options for Conair aircraft operated in Canada, the US and Alaska, and two options for aircraft operated by Securite Civile in France. I'm probably going to need to build at least the Australian-based Conair aircraft, but will need another kit for that, because the Securite Civile aircraft are based at Nimes-Garons airport which is in the Occitanie region so fits the scope of this GB. Time to get cracking. More soon. Julian

Hi all, So this one is a carry over from the Flying Boat GB that I started but never got finished in time. This is the kit.. Revell CL-415 Boxtop_2 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr And here's some in progress pics.. Revell CL-415 WIP_1 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell CL-415 Wip_2 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell CL-415 Wip_7 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell CL-415 Wip_8 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell CL-415 Wip_9 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Revell CL-415 Wip_10 by Dermot Moriarty, on Flickr Painting & Klear is done - decals next! Thanks for looking and Happy Christmas to you and yours! Cheers, Dermot

All, After lurking for a long time with the occasional RFI post I thought I'd share my latest build as it progresses. Hopefully, there will be some shared learning along the way. Ok, the kit. I spotted this a local show for £10, being an airframe I've had my an eye on for a while it was coming home with me. The plastic within is well moulded, if a little thick and quite hard. The surface detail is good the rivets appear in scale and not too over the top. This actually causes my first concern, undoubtedly I'm going to lose some of those rivets, how to reinstate them??? Ok, what I'm aiming for.... I normally stick to military aircraft but being a fan of Ice Pilots I was instantly attracted to this aircraft. So off we go. I've decided to open up the tanks and the crew door. I've replaced the lost plastic around the crew door with some poly strips, I'll think of adding some detail later. The water tank doors are too thick so I'll build up replacements later. Close up of the doors. I'll have to think how to get the raised rivets back on the replacement doors, but otherwise they should be straight forward. Before that I need to build up the water tanks. This won't do... The actual tanks look like this.... I've done some work on the crew door, tidied the window frame and started the work on the tank. I'll be focusing on the tank for the immediate future as this needs to be done before I can close up the fuselage. The tanks are progressing and should look ok once in situ... That's all for now.... Family duty awaits!

EDIT Due to mixing this up with the Douglas B-26 which was the original intended build...but since the kit is half built going to continue it as "what if" Hello all, So this is actually the first Airfix kit I've tried to build. Basically picked it up due to the price in a very good model shop with the intention of building this as a water bomber used for forest fire fighting here in Canada. The majority of these airframes used were operated by a company called Air Spray located in Red Deer, Alberta and were used by both the British Columbia Ministry of Forests and most commonly, the Alberta Forest Service. Last flown operationally in 2006 these planes have been replaced by Air Tractor 802's and/or Electra L-188 tankers. No box shots since I started this about a month ago and well...forgot. Biggest delay on the construction though was colour conversion from the listed Humbrol colours to the Tamiya colours I can source locally with Humbrol 226 - Interior Green being the issue. As I understand it this was the color applied as a zinc chromate protective colour over the metal parts and unfortunately was not always consistently applied in both shade and location with some field expedient options applied. Initial attempts to mix the color as shown: This struck me as too green in color and while looking at various pictures sourced from google the colours inside the under carriage bays appears silver or grey. Luckily it was spring break, the in laws live somewhat close by the main hanger and Air Spray was willing to let me come visit Although only a few of the B-26's are left awaiting pick-up from the purchaser's I was able to figure out it's a yellow/green (zinc chromate) base layer but everything else had been painted aluminum or light grey over top as shown by the little bit of grey color applied above. Photo from within the front under carriage bay. The red is fire fighting retardant which somehow got in there. Most of the recent work was on the cockpit tub which...well it's pretty basic and doesn't really reflect the real thing. I wasn't able to get many good interior shots but the cock pits are pretty crowded with all the avionics/emergency supplies/radios/after market wiring so I took advantage of the fact each plane seems to be unique and came up with this: Sigh...looking at it zoomed in shows all the flaws of a not so steady hand and brush painting. But getting better at this...

So this is my completed DC-6 Water Bomber as flown by Conair located in Abbotsford, British Columbia, BC. These were very popular airframe but have since, for the most part, been retired from active service. Work in progress thread here:http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973376-1144-minicraft-dc-6b-water-bomber/

Well...the second model of the year begins now that the first is completed. The DC-6B was a successful water bomber in use for many years, in many jurisdictions. Kit markings are for Conair who is a private contract company that provides both planes and support services (pilots/maintenance) for many jurisdictions based out of Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada. The kit: This will be the first 1/144 scale aircraft I've done and actual work started December 23rd just before the holiday mad dash of many miles across the north.

Hello all, So this is officially the first model completed in almost 20 years by yours truly. The Heller kit was modified with aftermarket decals done by Leading Edge Models to show the aircraft as it would have been while used by the province of Ontario, Canada. Please excuse the tail sitter aspect of it...not enough weight in it. Work in progress thread here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234970362-wip-heller-cl-215-in-ontario-markings/ showing the trials and tribulations but it's been a fun build. Enjoy, foresterab